A humanities curriculum for students whose formal education ends with high school should guide them to use their minds in careful and thoughtful ways and to develop self-awareness and social identity. At Newton High School (New England), an experimental sophomore curriculum that coordinates and presents history and English in the same classroom in sequential periods attempts to carry out this educational goal. Because subject matter is regarded as the fundamental means of affecting the students' self images, the course emphasizes humanistic content with special weight on man's development within a society and his use of language. Six units varying from eight to 12 periods in length are used: "Man as a Creature with Potential,""The Individual in Society,""Man as Part of a Social Group,""The Individual in the Renaissance World,""Man in a Scientific and Technological World," and a general unit intended to culminate the year's work (objectives, techniques, and materials are suggested for each unit). Although only slight change has been noted in students under the new curriculum, the quantity and quality of questions they ask indicate that the course is beginning to affect their aspirations and self-awareness. Hopefully, this approach and similar projects to be developed in junior and senior courses will help them acquire satisfaction in their work. (LH)